


The Begining of the End

by Laura662



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-02-07 04:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12833478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laura662/pseuds/Laura662
Summary: Riggins' couldn't help but think it was cruel to use Dirk to find them but he was always so eager to help...There was no way anyone could know that Project Blackwing's latest acquisition marked the begining of their downfall.





	1. Jacob Vogel sounds like a friendly name

Riggins' couldn't help but think it was cruel to use Dirk to find them but he was always so eager to help. 

The boy sat at the table, piled high with papers. He gripped the huge magnifying glass that he had insisted on as he poured over the newspaper in front of him looking for things.  
Dirk stopped suddenly at the article on page 8; a suspected gas leak had knocked out several teachers and students leaving one teacher in a coma.  
“It's a thing!” he squeaked excitedly.  
“The school, page 8?” Riggins' asked as he nodded to the agents on the other side of the mirror.  
“Defiantly a thing” Dirk responded confidently.  
Dirk had never been wrong about things he was a magnet for the strange and unexplainable.  
Within minutes the agents had brought in a list of the students and staff at the school, Dirk glanced at the hundreds of names. “Jacob Vogel” he declared pointing at the list, “he has the friendliest name.”  
Riggins' heart sank, Jacob was a student and only 10 years old.  
He ruffled Dirk’s hair, “Good job kid, I think you cracked the case. This is why you’re going to be the world’s best detective”  
Dirk beamed as he was led back to his room. Riggins sighed and called Mr Priest.

Jacob was brought in unconscious; Mr Priest hadn't wanted to risk a confrontation with an unknown subject and had stunned him on his way home from school. Riggins was glad that Priest hadn’t had to use force it was always harder to get someone to trust you when they remembered a confrontation with Priest.  
Jacob woke up alone in the least threatening observation cell they had. He looked small and fragile but it always paid to be on your guard with people with abilities.  
Riggins' voice spoke over the speakers trying for a calm, reassuring tone as he dove into his usual “You're a superhero” speech but Jacob started screaming, he wouldn't stop shouting, running into doors and walls smashing anything he could get his tiny hands on. Riggins decided to let him exhaust himself but two days later and he was still going; shouting, screaming and refusing food. This couldn’t be allowed to go on, they had stunned him twice but it had made no difference every time he woke up he started shouting. He was afraid to send agents into the room with an unknown threat. Riggins flipped through the thin file that represented everything they had managed to find on the boy, Jacob Vogel, mother dead, father unknown, ADHD, foster care, multiple reports of fighting but nothing that stood out as paranormal, nothing strange until the 'gas leak' that it turns out had left only Jacob awake.  
New subjects were always worrying, they needed to be identified, classified and tested. With no signs yet of psychic ability and no sign that he could be reasoned with Dirk was their best option, he would help, he made things happen and he was always OK.  
It wasn't at all unusual to let the children play together, it was fascinating to watch them and their abilities interact. Riggins' had no misgivings when he led Dirk to Jacob.

Dirk fought back nerves as he approached the door, the sound of screaming was clearly audible from the other side.  
Riggins' smiled down at him, “We brought in that new friend of yours.” He said warmly “but he’s scared of grown-ups. Could you help him settle in?”  
Dirk smiled and nodded. He took a deep breath and tried to fight back his own fear as he entered the room alone.  
“Hello”, he greeted cheerily, “my name is Dirk Gently and we're going to be friends!”  
Jacob turned towards the door and froze staring at the other boy. He sniffed the air and approached slowly. The smile on Dirks face was fixed he backed up into the wall.  
“We've got lots of friends here to play with.” Dirk babbled nervously “my friend Mona, she's 10 too and then there's-”  
Dirk was cut off when Jacob screamed and darted forward. He dashed across the room, and tried to dive under the bed but Jacob was faster and was quickly on him, grabbing hold of Dirk's arm. The door slammed open and Riggins' rushed in but before could get to them Jacob was pulling blue light from the panicked boy.  
Riggins' stopped, turned and threw himself into the corridor.  
He knew what Jacob was now, it should have been obvious really.  
Jacob was a vampire.  
Riggins slammed the door on the two boys, Dirk was rubbing his arm and complaining that Jacob was very being unfriendly indeed. Dirk was defiantly safe but Riggins knew that it was too dangerous for anyone but a Black Wing subject to go into that room right now. He'd seen what could happen to ordinary people, they’d tested that extensively and it wasn’t something anyone wanted to personally experience.  
He gave the order and room was filled with knock out gas.  
It looked like Dirk wouldn’t be getting a new friend after all, there was only one place they could put a Vampire and it wasn't with the other children.

 

They lowered the unconscious boy into the cell. As soon as the hatch opened the guards could hear the howling and pounding. All that stopped as soon as the three saw the kid.  
Martin growled.  
“This is Jacob Vogel” The mechanical voice started “he has been classified-”  
“We can all smell what he is” Martin snarled, “Where did you take him from!”  
“-This is Jacob Vogel,” it began again emotionless and clinical “he has been classified as an energy vampire.”  
“He's a kid.” Cross and Gripps screamed at the same time. The hatch above them closed.  
They all leaned in to examine the sleeping Jacob.  
“Vogel” Gripps muttered, “little bird.”  
“We can't let them keep him!” Cross exclaimed leaning closer “He's so small!”  
Jacob woke up with a scream punched Cross in the face, he jumped to his feet and looked around panicked. His eyes widened as they fixed on the group, then there was silence and stillness.  
“You know what we are?” Martin asked softly.  
Jacob nodded, he could feel what they were now, it surrounded him. HOME. He was home, more home even than he'd been with anyone. Jacob breathed deeply. Here, this was right, they were right, everything clicked into place, he fit.  
Cross grinned up at him, blood streaming from his nose. They all felt the energy, the rightness, felt what he was feeling, felt the delighted emotions swirl around them.  
“We're keeping him.” Gripps stated.  
“Yup.” Cross said.  
Martin nodded in agreement. “Your one of us kid. They’re calling us vampires.”  
“Vampires!” Vogel interrupted, rushing around the room and fluttering his hands “Like Blah Blah Blah?!”  
He dived at Gripps who beamed and caught the boy turning him upside down. Vogel laughed.  
“I'm Martin” he continued a smile at the corner of his mouth, the kid’s manic energy was contagious, “the one you punched in the face that's Cross.”  
Cross waved earning another peal of laughter from the boy. “And the one that's got you there, that's Gripps.”  
Vogel wriggled out of Gripps grasp.  
“You look like they feed you, you OK?”  
“They put me in a room, then there was a kid!” Vogel stated happily, missing Martins sharp look over at Cross.  
“Another kid?”  
“Yeh! I scared him and it happened again, It was all blue and glowy! tasted so good!”  
“So they got more kids here?” Martin tried for nonchalance but the other two could feel the rage boiling off him.  
“Yup.” Vogel responded running in circles around Cross. “The scared kid said they got lots!”  
“Kids in a freak zoo.” Gripps muttered darkly. “We gotta fix it.”  
Martin nodded, glancing over at the oblivious Vogel who was trying to help Cross clear the blood from his face.  
“Might take a while.” He mused. “But it aint right.”  
They felt Cross's agreement even as he laughed with the fluttering Vogel. Something had to be done.


	2. Nightmares and Puppies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vogel spends time with his new family.

It was well past midnight when Riggins finally had the chance to check Jacob’s status.  
He'd insisted on witnessing all three subjects being introduced in the past even though he knew how it was likely to go. They tended to circle each other a few times, fight for the fun of it and then accept the other vampire completely. They were certainly pack animals; the tests had proved that.  
He’d had to miss this introduction because he was tending to a very sulky Dirk.  
When Dirk was unhappy he tended to try to find things to do. Everyone knew that Dirk looking for things to do inevitably led to chaos on a cosmic scale.  
Riggins walked quickly through the empty corridors pulling out his phone and was more than annoyed when he found out that his men had just dropped the unconscious kid into the cell with the others. All interactions between subjects were usually monitored, but despite their best efforts no camera could survive the Rowdy three. He knew they wouldn’t harm a child on purpose, but they were not gentle creatures and vampire or not Jacob was very small and easily hurt.  
He sighed, the damage was done now and even though the thought put him on edge he'd have to wait until Project Incubus was awake to approach them. With no access to natural light this wasn’t the same as morning, he’d have to wait until the noise started up. 

 

Jacob fell asleep before the others, jumping up and down and insisting he wasn’t tired until he draped himself over Cross his manic energy finally exhausted.  
He dozed peacefully for an hour before Martin noticed the sharp note of wrongness in the air. Martin was always the first to feel things and the smell of fear from the sleeping boy was impossible for him to miss. Vogel still lay in Cross's arms but he was frowning and curling in on himself.  
Martin made soft clicking sound to get Cross's attention and nodded towards the distressed boy. Cross frowned and put his hand to Vogel's forehead and they all saw what was wrong…darkness, a shadowed figure, taken, taken away, cut off, blind. Vogel whimpered, they all understood.  
Cross focused and pushed a thought to the front of his mind, making it big enough to fill the dream space… / Puppies, fluffy, friendly puppies./  
Vogel’s face relaxed.  
/Friendly, soft puppies, waiting to play, wanting to be friends./  
Vogel shifted and let out a tiny “Yip!” in his sleep.  
/Soft, safe, happy, home./ He was still.  
Martin grinned, “Puppies?”  
“Everyone likes puppies.” Cross defended in a whisper.  
“I like cats.” Gripps contributed. “They scared him” he added tone quiet but concerned.  
They looked at the boy now sleeping peacefully again and Cross nodded. “Shut him up alone.”  
“They’re gonna hurt him.” Martin growled.  
“Blood’s supposed to stay on your inside.” Cross agreed.  
“Birds gotta fly.” Gripps whispered. “First chance we get.”

 

Every meeting with the Rowdy Three needed careful handling. Project Incubus could read every one of your emotions and kill you with ease if you dropped your guard for a second. They were prisoners, assets, test subjects and unlike most Black Wing subjects, they knew it.  
When the sound of howling could be heard through the doors Riggins chose his words carefully and spoke over the speakers.  
“Priest and I brought you boys breakfast, you know the drill.”  
He looked over at Priest’s men. They had decided that two would do; this was a meeting not a threat. One of them held a large box and the other the arm of the drugged prisoner. They always brought prisoners, murderers, the worst they could find. If he had to feed people to the them he would find people the world would be better without.  
Priest raised his gun as the door that led directly into the cell opened. It was a barren room, the was floor painted with lines and its grey walls were covered in scratches and dents. Three bare matresses lay on the floor; the only other furniture was a bench bolted to the wall and a table and three chairs that had been added recently for good behaviour. Martin and his boys stood behind a red line painted on the floor. They'd never been this quiet, it was worrying. Jacob was the only one moving. He kept darting up to the line and putting a toe on it, playing a game, pushing his luck to see what he could get away with. Priest raised his weapon a little higher and Martin gave a quick whistle that had Vogel rushing to his side. Riggins was happy to see that the boy was unharmed and had taken to the group.  
“How’re you settling in Jacob?” Riggins asked in his best talking to children voice.  
He didn’t respond, he was looking past Riggins at Priest and the sedated prisoner. Jacob wrinkled his nose and looked over at Martin.  
“Blood.” Martin explained simply.  
“Lakes and Rivers.” Gripps added.  
Jacob started edging forwards but Gripps caught him and pulled him into a one-armed hug.  
Riggins wasn’t sure exactly what was going on here, he’d never seen the three so subdued but the energy in the room felt dangerous, as though something large and invisible was coiled and waiting to strike.  
“We’re going to give you boys a week to get settled…” Riggins spoke calmly, the tension of the room pushing in on him, making him feel like he couldn’t breathe. “…and here are some things to make Jacob feel more at home.”  
The cardboard box was deposited on the floor on their side of the line. Priest reached out a hand and pushed the prisoner forward. He stumbled past an orange line on the floor and the Martin reached out and dragged him over to their side of the line. The vampires fed quickly, blue energy leaving the whimpering man as he writhed on the cold concrete floor. Riggins tried to keep his eyes on Vogel, but he moved to hide his face in Cross’s side. When the murderer lay motionless and still Martin and Gripps picked him up and threw him across the room towards them.  
“What happens after a week?” Martin asked.  
“Tests resume for all of you.” Priest said gleefully. Riggins shot him a look.  
“No one’s going to hurt him Martin, you have my word.” He said calmly.  
Gripps growled and Cross tensed.  
“He’s a growing boy. He needs care, education, other children, school.” Riggins continued.  
Now Jacob growled.  
“We only want to help.” Riggins tried but he knew he’d made a mistake as soon as he’d said it. The Rowdy three hated liars.  
They stared at him now, completly focused the silence tense and terrible.  
Riggins had nothing else he could say and so they left, dragging the comatose man behind them. 

He stood in the corridor and breathed, he felt hunted.  
“That was new.” Priest smiled dangerously. “They seem real protective of the fourth subject.”  
“No.” Riggins said sharply.  
“It’s always an advantage to have a plan B. Leverage.”  
“Their energy does seem different.” Riggins agreed eyes on the closed door. “It’s a situation that’ll need close monitoring.”

 

The door slammed on them and Vogel stopped clutching Cross and started swiping at his tongue with his hands. “Blergh!”  
Gripps smiled, “It’s not poison. Just tastes that way. They always bring us poison people.”

"Boys." Martin called, bringing their attention to the other thing that the agents had brought into their cage.  
Gripps and Cross cautiously approached the box looking to Martin for confirmation. Martin sniffed and nodded. They surrounded the box, hands out and closed their eyes, Vogel sat cross legged watching his brothers as quiet popping noises emanated from then box the stopped. The three stepped back eyes dark.  
“They try an slip cameras in here all the time.” Martin said.  
“Wriggly bugs!” Gripps confirmed happily.  
“We fry em!” Cross shouted.  
“Fire bugs!” Vogel added gleefully jumping in circles.  
“All gone now.” Cross emptied out the box and whooped. “They sent snakes and ladders and sharpies!” he threw the bright markers to Gripps who caught them with a smile.  
Vogel looked at the items spread out on the floor, clothes, books and a stuffed bear? Blah boring. He vaulted over Martin and into the box giggling.  
Martin settled back against the wall watching with amused interest as an upside-down box crawled around the room. He didn’t hit anything.  
“Think you can find Gripps, tortoise?” Martin enquired nodding at Gripps who moved silently around the room, standing by the door.  
Vogel squeaked and made a beeline for the other Rowdy. The box stopped, and Vogel jumped out, pouncing on his target. “We got us a hunter.” Gripps exclaimed happily.  
“You’re good,” Cross said, “How’d you think you found him?”  
Vogel paused. “I can’t smell you.” he said questioningly.  
“No, we don’t smell, you won’t either soon. One of those things when you only eat energy.” Martin explained picking up the stuffed bear from the floor.  
Vogel perked up. “You were there so I knew you were there!”  
“We always know where we are!” Cross said beaming.  
“Not outside the door.” Grips complained kicking the door behind him.  
“No, they use some weird freaking doors here.” Cross agreed  
“Blinds your senses.” Martin added. “Can’t feel nothing outside.”  
“You can when they take you out the cage.”  
“Freak Zoo.” Gripps muttered.  
Vogel launched himself into Matins lap sending the stuffed bear flying “Want to fight?!”  
Martin looked over at the smiling Gripps “We have got a week.” 

 

Vogel learned fast, he was quick and strong and tireless. He wouldn’t be able to beat an older Rowdy for a quite a while, but he could certainly take down an average human without needing to drain them. The boys radiated pride when Vogel managed to knock Martin down. He ran around the room crowing in victory but stopped suddenly at the crackle of the speaker.  
“Please step behind the red line.” The mechanical voice sounded. Their week was up.  
They retreated, shoulder to shoulder, eyes fixed on the door.  
The man who stepped into the room wasn’t Riggins. It was Priest, Riggins had let Priest come with his men and their guns. Martin snarled.  
“Come along Jacob.” Priest said. “We got some people who want to meet you.”  
Vogel shook his head and stepped back, he reached behind him for the chair leg that rested against the wall. Martin whistled sharply. “Gripps”  
Gripps moved forward.  
The men raised their smoke guns.  
Priest smiled “Now you know better Martin. The kid doesn’t need an escort. He’s safe enough with us.”  
The gang tensed for a fight but Vogel stood up, back straight and started forward.  
They all felt a wave of helplessness as they watched him make his way over to stand with Priest’s men. He was young, but he was one of them. He’d be able to read the death and danger radiating from Priest with his head in a bucket. He was very, very brave. He felt their pride in him and they felt his strength, magnified as it travelled from one Rowdy to the other, a harmony only they could hear.  
One of the guards dropped his hand onto the boy’s shoulder.  
The three vampires stepped forwards as one.  
“Now that Tony” said Priest addressing the man behind him even as his eyes stayed fixed on the glaring Rowdy’s in front of him. “Was a stupid thing to do.”  
The lights above them flicked.  
Priest kept his gun steady as they led Jacob to the door.  
“We’ll drop him back after class.” Priest said brightly backing out of the room and slamming the door behind him.


	3. Sad Story Time

Vogel's first day was boring, boring, boring, they weren't kidding about school. The room they put him in was like a classroom, dull grey walls, a desk and an uncomfortable chair he was supposed to sit still in for hours. He had a whole week of serious looking men in coats talking about his super special superhero powers, he hated it.  
His second week was boring too and no one could keep up with his hyperactivity. He couldn't answer their questions in the way that they wanted, he wouldn't do as he was told, he couldn't stay still. Jacob felt the doctor's patience running out and the irritability slowly creeping in at the edges.  
By the forth week he could taste the malice and impatience pouring off the scientists, they feed him from a steady supply of criminals but the intensity of emotion the doctors themselves generated always made him hungry. Most days were bad days and he was alone.  
The testing always started with questions and they never stopped asking the same ones: How does energy taste? How could he track a person by their energy? What could he tell them about the universe? What were they thinking right now?  
They couldn't accept that somethings were beyond his ability to explain them. The days ended with Vogel frustrated and the scientists angry.

At the end of the day were the evenings and they were great. He and the guys laughed and broke stuff and fought and played scrabble.  
The best times were when they were all together and the best days were the one's he got to spend with the guys. They'd throw them a bad person or five and see how many they could drain and how fast. They'd test if he could read Gripps' or Cross's mind or they'd watch them play hide and seek.  
Those day's were fun, even with Martin tense and protective and glaring at the guards. 

At the end of each day Vogel was escorted back to the Rowdy Three's cell.  
Today was one of the worst times. The days when Vogel got back and the guy's weren't there.  
It happened when they had been taken for their own tests or been thrown into isolation as punishment. Vogel hated it, he ran around the room screaming and shouting to drown out the silence.  
He knew that the guys had it worse and he hated it, hated that they were separated. That they were hurting and he couldn't help. Vogel stopped yelling when he heard a clattering outside the door, it opened a fraction, he could smell fear and blood. 

Armed guards crowded the corridor as Gripps limped into the room supported by Martin and Cross on either side. Cross was bleeding through the new bandages on his arm and Martin had a black eye and split lip. They all smelt like anger and pain and protectiveness and love. The door shut behind them with a hissing of the locks.  
“What happened?” Vogel shrieked fluttering around the guys, he wanted to hug them but was too scared to cause more hurt. He knew they'd tell him, there were no secrets among the three.  
Martin growled, “They wanted to know if we'd feel it when they cut Cross.”  
“I got out and hurt them right back.” Gripps stated.  
Cross laughed “They didn't have enough guys to hold him back.”  
Martin was smiling now, he pulled Vogel into a hug. “How was you're day?”  
Vogel huffed, “They wanted to know how long I could run!”  
“You do what we asked?” Cross asked  
“Yeh,” Vogel said proudly, “I didn't run my fastest and I stopped way before I was tired.”  
Gripps limped over to a pile of ripped sheets and scrabbled around until he found the last of the sharpies, he slowly made his way over the Cross who grinned and held his arm out.  
Gripps examined the bandage and started scribbling on the clean areas with bright green ink.  
Vogel stood at his side jumping up and down. Gripps handed him a marker and Vogel joined him in drawing on Cross but he quickly got bored and started pacing the room. It was too small, way way to small. The feeling of being trapped felt like a hand squeezing his heart, his family were hurting and he needed to scream again.  
Martin got up and stood in his path. “So, you wanna practice fighting, or you want story time?”  
Vogel felt the tightness in his chest loosen, He had the guys! He smiled and flung himself at a cushion on the floor. “Story time.” He announced.  
Martin moved to lean against the wall next to Vogel and Gripps and Cross flopped down opposite, Cross's arm resting on Gripps crossed legs so that Gripps could continue his drawing.  
“They got me when I was 15.” Gripps said looking at the wall. “I lived in a house with my Ma and big sister. My sister and her boyfriend had a baby.”  
“Was it small?” Vogel asked excitedly.  
“Super small.” Gripps confirmed smiling fondly, they could all feel the love cascading off him.  
“My family knew I was crazy weird and they thought there was a demon in me.”  
Gripps doodled an adorable demon on Cross's arm.  
“But I stayed in the house and didn't hurt anyone. In the end I got so hungry.” Vogel felt the ghost of that deep hunger gnawing at his stomach.  
“I couldn't move, I would have starved...but one night someone broke in and headed for the lil baby’s room. He had a knife”  
Vogel snarled.  
“I could feel the darkness in him,” Gripps continued frowning “and I ate all if it.”  
“Instinct.” Martin interrupted proudly  
“He died.” Gripps said nonchalantly “But he had a friend, and the friend ran.”  
Cross growled and Gripps knocked his shoulder into him.  
“The baby was crying I couldn't leave him, and the dude he ran all the way to the police and they ran to Black Wing.” Cross leaned his weight against Gripps.  
“That old guy came to talk to my Ma, told her I was a superhero, was going off to be a super secret agent and fight for my country. Then Priest came at night with his shocky thing and they brought me here.”  
“You were smaller then.” Martin commented  
“So where you.” Gripps returned grinning.  
“As small as me?!” Vogel said jumping up and down  
“Nope.” Gripps said smiling now.  
“I win!” Vogel cried running at the wall and trying to back flip. Martin caught him before he fell laughing.  
Cross rested his head on Gripps shoulder, he had lost a lot of blood today and they all felt his tiredness. Vogel sat down next to them quietly, leaning against Gripps other side while Martin put himself between the others and the door. The Rowdy three closed their eyes and let themselves be lulled to sleep by their mutual exhaustion.

 

The guards had said that they had a new friend for him when they picked Vogel up that morning.  
He played hopscotch through the grey corridors flanked by two black clad men, they were taking him somewhere new today. Left, left, right, two corridors left instead of the usual Left, right, right.  
The guards turned to walk down yet another corridor and Vogel stopped dead. Everything in him screamed out against moving forward  
/WRONG, NO, DANGER!/  
He took a step back, the closest guard reached to grab his arm but Vogel dodged.  
“Come on kid, it's just a corridor.” he snapped.  
Vogel shook his head, he was shaking. “What's down there?” he demanded.  
“Nothing dangerous, just another kid for you to play with.” the other guard said with false brightness. Vogel would have been able to feel the lie even if he hadn't been able to hear it.  
“No!” he said shaking his head, "no, no, no."  
They reached for Vogel, he kicked out and had the first guard down before the other reached for his gun. In a panic Vogel extended his hand and blue light flew to him. The guard dropped his gun and clutched his chest as his anger was ripped out of him.  
The first guard started shouting from the floor and Vogel turned and ran.  
Corridor after corridor flew by until he fell over a boy lying on the floor staring at a plug socket.  
Vogel jumped to his feet and saw the kid from before reach out and flick the plug socket from on to off before slowly getting to his feet.  
He heard the sound of heavy boots running down the corridor and grabbed the older boy, dragging him into the first room he saw, empty except for a few boring looking control pannels. Vogel slammed the door behind them panting for breath.  
“Where are we?!” the boy shrieked.  
“Shhh” Vogel heard the sound of voices calling from outside and Dirk muttered angrily besides him.  
“Shut up British guy!”  
“My name is Dirk!  
More footstep and then Priest's voice spoke softly from the corridor “Icarus...I should have known you'd be involved. Come on out Icarus.”  
Dirk froze.  
“He said you're name is Icarus!” Vogel whispered.  
“Dirk Gently is my secret identity.” Dirk said angrily. “And frankly you don't even have a super secret name so you-”  
“Icarus, you are very grounded young man.” Priest called.  
Dirk pressed against Vogel's side.  
“Svlad.” the soft voice tried again. Dirk whimpered, he was shaking now, biting his fingers to keep quiet. Vogel felt the panic and terror; he couldn't resist drawing the energy to him.  
Dirk passed out just as the door opened and Vogel was the only one who knew that it was sheer terror and not the energy taken from him that had caused Dirk to faint.  
“Oh Jacob were you hungry?” Priest tutted. Vogel snarled and leapt for Priest's throat but screamed as the shock from a guards taser hit him in the side. He turned howling and that's when Priest struck him with something heavy. Vogel stumbled back into the room, knocking into a control panel before falling into unconsciousness.


	4. Fire and Princesses

Martin was anxious, he sat with his back against the wall glaring at the door.  
His brothers could feel the rising tide of emotion flooding the room. They were anxious themselves, anxious and scared and angry. They wanted to know where their little bird was, needed him back safe and unharmed. It had been so long, much longer than usual and no one had brought him home to them.  
Cross paced the room “Hey Gripps, how long has he been gone?” he asked.  
“129687 seconds.” Gripps replied quickly.  
Martin stood and walked towards the door, he rested his palm on the cold metal surface and closed his eyes. He focused as hard as he could but as usual he couldn't feel through whatever damn stuff they'd made the cell out of.  
He signed in defeat and lowered his head for a moment before turning to look back at his boys, he could feel their silent agreement. Martin began the howl and the others picked it up, it was time to get Rowdy.

 

Two new black clad guards carried the unconscious Vogel through the corridors before stopping dead in front of an open door.  
The guards looked at each other, the first spoke. “Priest said isolation room 1b.”  
“Yup.” his companion replied.  
“This is 1b Ted.” the first guard said hesitantly.  
“It's also clearly on fire Bryan.” Ted replied testily. He was right, scientists and guards with fire extinguishers rushed around the room which was most defiantly on fire. A young man sat in the corner sobbing, a new subject probably.  
“So where are we taking him?” Bryan asked.  
Ted tried his radio, no luck. “I can't raise Priest, might have gone too close to a dead zone.”  
Vogel stirred and whimpered; Bryan froze.  
“We need a plan.” he said in a sing song voice, trying to control his panic. He had his arms full of baby vampire and it didn't seem like it was going to be long until he woke up. He'd seen what was left of a few people who had been set against The Rowdy Three and it hadn't been pretty.  
“OK, OK, OK, let me think.” Ted said, panic creeping into his tone. “We need to stay calm, they like panic.”  
“Like the kind of panic you get there are a lot of people in a room which is currently on fire!” Bryan whispered frantically.  
“Oh shit.” Ted said quietly. “OK, 1a, c, d all of the 1's are out because of the fire.”  
“Mhmmm.” Bryan said his eyes on the boy he was holding.  
“OK, couple of corridors down, rooms 5, they've got the right kind of doors.” Ted finished.  
They rushed down the corridors and had just opened the door to 5a when Vogel opened his eyes, glared at him and howled.  
Bryan shrieked and threw him into the room, he hit the floor with a thud but quickly jumped to his feet and charged. Ted slammed the door and they looked at each other as they both heard him hit the the other side.“Sometimes I hate Black Wing.” Bryan panted.  
“He's just a kid.” Ted tried.  
“Oh yeh, you want to go in there?!”  
Another loud thud sounded against the door, both of the guards backed away and hurried down the corridor.

 

The energy that The Rowdy Three were generating had now knocked out all of the lights in their immediate vicinity.  
Riggins stood in the command room glaring at a screen that showed the dark corridor outside of their cell. The psychic pulses caused by Project Incubus were starting to be felt by other Black Wing subjects even through the heavily insulated cell walls. The latest calculations reported that the potential for a violent energy reaction with another subject was near critical. The situation had grown dangerously unstable and a team had to be sent in right now.  
They had tried piping knock-out gas into The Rowdy Three's cell but they'd had to shut down portions of the vents due to the fire in 1b so that plan was out.  
Riggins had to make do without Priest for this encounter, he'd sent him off with Dirk; he knew that the boy was terrified of Priest but he needed to scare him away from wandering off alone. Dirk kept insisting that he'd had to leave his room to solve a case and that was troubling. He might be a ray of sunshine but he was also a loaded gun and one of the most dangerous subjects in Black Wing, left unattended there was no knowing what could happen.  
He had Priest's best team moving into position: twenty men, ten of them armed with gas and tazers to stun the subjects. Ideally they needed at least thirty, any less than ten people per member of Project Incubus was extremely risky but they couldn't send any more, the corridors were just too narrow.  
Fighting the Vampires in close quarters in the dark was impossible, the only way they had a chance was to let The Three come to them...to let them out of their cell and herd them into a well lit area of corridor. It was a plan where so much could go wrong but there was nothing else that they could do. Riggins looked at the monitors; There was Jacob, screaming and running around the isolation room, the picture was fuzzy and Riggins knew that soon the energy he was generating would knock the camera out entirely. On another monitor were the smoking remains of rooms 1a and 1b, another monitor showed Priest sitting at the end of Dirks bed. The final monitor showed the team taking up positions in the corridor they'd meet the Rowdys. Riggins saw Jacob's monitor cut out entirely out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and nodded at the man next to him. “Unlock Project Incubus's cell.”

 

Vogel yelled and screamed and ran.  
He picked things up and smashed them, then screamed some more. He kicked at the walls, at the door and then at a pen on the floor. The pen said “Owww!”  
He stopped screaming. “Hi Pen Guy.” Vogel said hesitantly.  
The pen remained silent on the ground, Vogel picked it up and gently placed it on the desk.  
“I'm Vogel, I'm trying to get out of here and get back to the Guys.”  
More silence from the pen but Vogel was undeterred.  
“The Guys are the best, Gripps can draw so good and Cross is the best at scrabble and Martin can make animal noises, I like the cat noise best.”  
The pen rolled over.  
Encouraged Vogel jumped up and down. “And we have story time and we fight and we see who shout the loudest and they teach me songs. You gotta meet them, they're the great.”  
On the desk where the pen had been sat a girl about Vogel’s age, the drastic pen to girl transformation didn't phase Vogel. “Oh hey, your person shaped now! Cool!”  
“I'm Mona.” The girl said quietly, “I can be any shape. Like a tree or a chair or a plane. You miss your friends?”  
Vogel deflated. “The Guys yeh, I just want to get back to them. I've been here forever. I'm hungry.”  
Mona perked up “I can bring you some food. I know where they keep the ice cream.”  
“Blah, I don't eat that stuff.” Vogel replied. It had been months since he'd eaten human food and the thought disgusted him. The guys had said that once you started eating energy you'd starve without it.  
“Well what do you eat?” Mona asked quietly kicking her feet.  
“Strong emotions!” Vogel said happily, “from the other people like us!”  
“Like me?” Mona asked.  
Vogel nodded then shook his head. “Yeh you're like us but your emotions keep changing, like there's not enough of one thing.”  
“I'm an actress.” Mona said happily. “Do you want to see?”  
Vogel nodded and watched wide eyed as Mona turned into a cat then back into a person.  
“What should I be next?” Mona asked.  
“A car!” Vogel exclaimed happily and Mona hopped off the desk and transformed into a purple car. Vogel hooted and ran in circles.  
This was almost as good as story time! 

 

The doors opened with a hiss and the howling stopped abruptly, the corridor outside was dark but so was their cell and they didn't need to see to fight.  
They paused, Martin sniffed the air and they all let themselves feel without the door in the way.  
Black Wing was always overwhelming to the senses, there was the mouth watering smell of strong emotion, the smell of pain, of blood, the sting of those doors they couldn't get through and the one room they could sense with death itself inside. Now they could smell the fear of the twenty men waiting for them.  
Cross spoke first. “We gonna rush?”  
Martin grinned in the darkness. “Boys let's show them what happens when they mess with the Rowdy Three.”  
They charged down the dark corridor and into the light without pause slamming into the wall of guards. 

Riggins watched on the monitors as the chaos unfolded, Project Incubus were fighting with a ferocity he hadn't seen before and it was clear they hadn't sent enough men. Seven were already down and all the stun weapons had been disabled.  
"No." he said quietly as a guard pulled a knife lunged for Cross, no one should have had knives.  
Cross dodged but the knife sliced into his arm and he backed away. Martin moved in lightning fast and grabbed the man by his hair, slamming his face into a wall. The guard turned, blood running down his face and leapt with his knife raised. Martin twisted the guards arm and drove his knife up under his ribs, the guard stopped moving and fell back.  
Priest walked into the control room, “It looks like this situation has gotten a little out of hand.” he said looking over Riggins shoulder at the monitors.  
“They're your men.” Riggins snapped back, “This was a team you personally assembled.”  
“Yes.” Priest agreed  
Riggins pointed at the monitor. “Why did he have a knife?”  
“Oh that's Marcus,” Priest said offhandedly “he's a little keen.”  
“Was a little keen.” Riggins corrected.  
“Was.” Priest agreed looking at the body.  
“Are you going to help Priest or are you just going to watch?”  
“No need, the vents are back online. It's a big corridor but the gas should drop them in 5 minutes give or take”  
Riggins sighed in relief, today might be salvageable after all. The Three had disabled every guard and were now destroying everything they could, testing the strength of the doors leading off the corridor. It took 15 minutes in the end before command was sure they were unconscious and they could dispatch a recovery team. “Project Incubus is secure, four agents dead.” a voice said over the radio. Riggins flinched. Priest looked at the monitors, Project Incubus had managed to fall unconscious in a heap in the corner. He spoke to recovery over the radio “Remove the leader, cell 9d, restrain him.” The guard nodded and signalled to two others who began dragging Martin down the corridor.  
“You know, this could have been a real unpleasant situation.” Priest said to Riggins “We should remove the kid,”  
“No. They'd never stop trying to get him back.” Riggins said.  
“Then we permanently remove the kid” Priest continued conversationally.  
“You hurt one of them and you know they'll never stop. They'll never stop hunting you.” Riggins warned.  
Priest chuckled. “Sounds interesting.”  
Riggins sighed, “We are not removing anyone, we have the situation under control and I-”  
Alarms sounded.  
“What now?” Riggins snapped at the closest agent, who began pressing buttons frantically.  
An electronic voice sounded through the corridors.  
/Project Marzanna is loose, I repeat project Marzanna is loose. Put down any weapons and do not under any circumstances engage./  
Riggins swore. “Priest!” He shouted.  
Priest was already rushing for the door, pulling out his radio as he went, “OK. I'm going to need a half pint of Cherry Garcia with sprinkles on top...and two spoons. Yeh the ones with the longer handles that she likes. And the new book I have on standby. The one with the Princess, no not the one with the knight, we do not want her thinking about swords right now. The one with the yellow cover-”  
The door closed behind him, Riggins stared at the bank of monitors. Half of the screens only showed darkness, a convergence was coming. 

 

Martin woke up alone and strapped to a wall, he tested the restraints but they held tight.  
He looked around the room at his surroundings; there was a red line spray painted close to the door which he knew represented the minimum safe distance from him.  
The Rowdy Three had certainly shown them, if Black Wing had any sense they'd give them Vogel back and leave them be. Martin knew that they did not have any sense or they wouldn't have taken them in the first place.  
He groaned his head was killing him, he felt hungover. They must have used knock out gas, he hated when they used that. He could feel something else too, something making his head worse. It was like the pressure before a big storm, something was happening.  
His suspicions were confirmed when alarms started to blare and lights flashed on panels throughout the room.  
He sniffed and froze, it had gotten out of it's cage.  
Death, death was coming, pure and certain death and here he was strapped to a wall. He growled low.  
It wasn't long before Martin heard the soft pad of footsteps, that wasn't right. Soft, so soft they made their way along the corridor and stopped outside the door.  
“Hullo.” said muffled voice from outside. A child's voice, the angel of death was a child.  
“Hey” Martin replied.  
“You OK in there? Want me to come in?” The door handle turned but didn't open.  
Martin considered, no, he most defiantly wasn't OK but the idea of the kid on the other side of that door coming in filled him with dread. “I'm OK where I am.”  
“I'm Bart. I don't think I should come in. It feels like I should stay out here.” the voice sounded sure.  
“Nice to meet you Bart. I'm Martin. If you wanna stay outside you stay can outside.”  
“OK.” the kid said brightly. "It's my birthday today, I'm 12, or I was 12. They said that they were going to find me a friend, a kid like me. I've never met another kid before but that was days ago and no one came. ”  
"Happy Birthday." Martin said, his heart was breaking for the kid, how many cages did this place have?  
“Mr Priest didn't come today and no one read me a story. Hey you wanna hear a story? I know five!"  
“Sure.” Martin responded.  
“So there was the princess right and she lived in a castle. And she had icecream every day and she didn't have to kill anyone at all! That's a great story right!”  
“That's a really good story.” Martin replied.  
"The man from the tests said that he didn't know where my friend Mr Priest was, then I felt like I was supposed to kill him and so he died." Bart said casually. "I want to be a Princess one day but I'm an assassin, are you an assassin?"  
"I'm a Vampire." Martin replied.  
"But you know about the universe right, like you can feel it?"  
"The pull? Yeh we feel it."  
"I knew it." Bart sounded overjoyed. "You're special, that's why I don't think I should kill you!"  
"Glad to hear it."  
“Hey, so...” Bart paused “...will you be my friend?”  
“Sure thing.” Martin replied.  
Bart squealed with delight “Now I've got two friends, you and Mr Priest. I'm going to go find more friends. Bye Martin!”  
“Bye Princess.”  
Bart giggled. "I'm not a Princess yet!"  
Martin smiled "You can be whatever you want on your birthday."  
The door opened a crack and Martin saw a girl in a blood covered jump suit and a cracked plastic tiara, in one hand she held a knife. She beamed at him and he grinned back.  
She pulled back from the door and headed back down the corridor.  
As he heard her footsteps getting quieter Martin's frantically beating heart began to slow down. The danger had passed.  
They were trying to contain the Grim Reaper? He was right no one in Black Wing had any damn sense.


	5. A level two convergence.

Vogel howled with laughter as Mona transformed into a tiny 2ft tall Riggins and stomped around the room ordering him to "stand up straight young man! Super heroes clean their rooms and kill who we say."  
He fell off the desk clutching his sides. "Do the other one, the scary one" he demanded breathlessly.  
Mona turned into a 2ft tall smirking Priest.  
"I'm threatening in a creepy way." She hopped around the room twirling and pouncing at Vogel. "Fear me because I own a hundred guns!"  
"You're so funny!" Vogel squealed.  
"There is no funny here, I'm a very scary man. I have the power to be threatening. Fear me because I can kill things!" Mona said in Priest's soft voice.  
"You need to show this to the British kid...that'd stop him being so afraid."  
Mona stopped and transformed back into a girl.  
"Dirk?" she asked.  
Vogel nodded.  
"Have you seen him?" She asked excitedly, "We were supposed to meet up to be detectives. I was going to be the magnifying glass, but I couldn't find him."  
"I think that Priest guy took him."  
Mona looked worried "Oh." she said quietly .  
"You think he's OK?" Vogel asked.  
"They won't harm him." Mona said in her quiet, calm little voice. "I don't think they could if they wanted to. But they keep him scared."  
"How do they do that? Doesn't he just get angry and smash stuff?" Vogel asked.  
"He's not like that." Mona said thoughtfully. "You learn about people when you're an actress. You need you're friends, the four of you make up one whole. If they separate you'll just keep pushing until you're together again. The universe wants you together so it won't let you stay apart for long."  
Vogel nodded, he understood even if he didn't have the words. "What about you?"  
"I'm an idea, I change. But I'm alone mostly and I don't need to be around people. I just need to be able to change. Now Dirk needs people, he needs to be free and needs for things to move around him. That's what he does, he runs around does things and things flow and they get fixed."  
Vogel frowned, "If he has to be free why is he in a cage?"  
Mona looked angry for a moment. "They don't understand any of it. They think that they can keep us here forever and make us change the universe."  
Vogel looked at her with his month open. "That's really really dumb."  
"It's like throwing a pencil in the air and thinking it'll stay up there if you shout at it." Mona agreed "Dirk could leave when ever he wants, but they keep him afraid of hurting people. So he stays but it makes him so sad. I'm going to go see if he needs me, would you like to get out too?"  
"Yeh!" Vogel cried jumping to his feet.  
Mona walked up to the door and became a tank, the door didn't stand a chance.  
Vogel climbed over the wreckage and turned back to the tank. "Hey if you see the guys, tell them I'm looking for them?"  
Mona turned back into a person and nodded before becoming a fly and flying away.  
Vogel whooped with joy, he could feel Martin. He was a distance away but he was there, Vogel turned and headed towards him.

 

 

Cross groaned as he woke up, he looked around at the debris on the floor and the bright graffiti scrawled over the grey walls. He was back in their cell but he could only sense Gripps. Cross looked down at his injuries, dried blood caked his sleeve, everything hurt.  
"They put the two of us back." Gripps announced as he stared at a picture of an angry duck that Vogel had drawn on the wall. Cross could feel the scratching of his Gripps' worry in the back of his mind but stronger than that, much more urgent was the feeling in the air around them that something was about to happen.  
"They messed up my hair dragging me around by my foot." Cross complained as he heaved his aching body up and settled himself in front of his brother.  
Gripps huffed and inspected the tangled mess before reaching out and beginning to untangle Cross's dark hair with his fingers. This always calmed them, the scientists in their stupid coats would watch them for hours and babble about social grooming and pack dynamics. Whatever the cause the group loved to play with each others hair, paint each others nails and help style the clothes they were given. Martin would stretch out like a huge cat while Gripps or Cross styled his hair or beard and Vogel was starting to get really good at painting nails. Gripps interrupted the heavy silence. "The strings are all coming together. It wants us to do something soon."  
Cross would have nodded if not for Gripps gentle fingers still in his hair, instead he replied "It's in my head and I hate it."  
"My brain is not a puppet." Gripps muttered.  
"We ain't puppet men." Cross agreed. But he knew just like his brother did that they couldn't resist the pull of the universe. Whatever was happening was going to happen but if the Universe needed the Rowdy Three it would damn well need to pull them all together first.  
"Remember the lil buttons?" Cross asked Gripps as he settled back. A favourite game of late had been making accessories for Vogel from whatever came to hand and seeing how many they could put on him before he jumped up all manic energy and started running around. Gripps had crafted him four little button badges out of paper and water and nail polish, wetting the paper and squeezing out the water. Shaping the pulp and drying it out before painting it jewel bright with the nail poilsh. Gripps, their clever, creative brother had given one each to Cross and Martin to draw something on for Vogel. Cross had drawn a bird, Gripps a smiley face and Martin a heart. They'd finished them off with some paper-clips Martin had swiped a while ago. Cross smiled as he remembered Vogel's reaction at being given the little buttons and the one plain button for Vogel himself to finish. He remembered the swell of love and gratitude and Vogel staring at the plain little button for so long before carefully drawing a 3 on it. Cross could feel Gripps sharing his memory of the warmth and pride and love in that moment. He felt Gripps' worry start to subside and he had almost calmed his brother when it happened.  
A screaming, shirtless man phased right through the metal of the door. He looked at them and screamed, Cross didn't move from the floor but looked up at the man and screamed right back. The man stopped and looked puzzled before he turned and and quietly phased back through the locked door. The door made a whirling sound and clicked open.  
"We ain’t puppet men." Gripps whispered softly, he was shaking, he rested a hand on Cross's shoulder, Cross covered Gripps' hand with his own.  
"We gotta find them tho." His brothers they were out there and the pull was so strong now.  
Gripps sighed in defeat and stood up shaking the numbness out of his legs, and looked around the room that had been their prison and their home for years. He walked over to the corner where Vogel kept the things he liked, there were the little buttons and an empty nail polish bottle that had had glitter polish in it so it still sparkled, a gold marker pen and a little braided bracelet Martin had made him. Gripps pocketed the little buttons and the bracelet then turned to Cross. They didn't have any weapons and nothing that they could turn into a weapon was left in the destroyed room. Cross took Gripps hand.  
"Never puppet men." Cross murmured.  
Gripps nodded "Let's make this a good day!" he said and they left that cell for the last time. 

 

Dirk cowered under his blankets he had been crying but he didn't know if there were any more tears to cry. Mr Priest had mentioned that a lot in the early days, that Dirk cried every day, what an unhappy child he must be. How broken and how wrong to cry every day.  
Mr Priest had sat on the end of his bed and talked to him for a long time, his voice soft and almost consoling as he leafed through the binder of people Dirk had "killed".  
Scientists who had left experiments with Dirk only to fall down and hit their heads, criminals who had been left alone with Dirk only to trip over chairs and break their necks and all the "assistants" he had been given who had never come back. Dirk had wondered about that at the time but thought that they disliked him. It was heartbreaking to know that following the clues Dirk had found for them had led to their deaths. One had gone to their car only to find a tiger recently escaped from the zoo in there. Another a rather sharp and unpleasant young man who had snapped at Dirk and called his ideas silly had been caught on some ropes hanging from a run away hot air balloon and had been heaved up into the sky.  
Mr Priest had expressed sorrow to Dirk. He was sorry that Dirk was so dangerous, couldn't Dirk see what could happen if he was left to run around? He'd left the binder with Dirk to browse, there were forty six people in there.  
Dirk knew that there was only one thing he could do now, he had to run away.  
It was the only way to keep people safe from him. If he was a real detective then he could save people and not hurt anyone. Dirk thought hard about Black Wing, everyone here had guns, that could not be safe! Forty six people, he'd never killed anyone outside of Black Wing. He'd found bodies yes but not forty six of them.  
Dirk stood up and looked again at the binder, "I am running away." he said to the room.  
Dirk pulled out the bag that was used for storing socks and emptied them out before throwing everything he might need in there, the first thing he packed was a pair of socks for which he felt foolish but then in went his favourite magnifying glass and a pen and some paper. In went the news paper that Riggins had given him and another pair of socks and a pink hair tie he'd found one day and a rock that seemed friendly and a squeaky toy that he could never remember seeing but he needed it and one more pair of socks for luck and that was it he was packed.  
Dirk pulled the blankets over a pillow, it didn't quite look like he was sleeping in there but it was what they did in all the movies so he was going to do it.  
He picked up his bag and the binder and headed for his door. The lights in his room flickered as an electrical pulse moved through the corridors it hit the switch Dirk had flipped and there was the quiet pop of a fuse blowing.  
Dirk took a breath as he reached out and turned the handle of his now unlocked room ready to head out into the world.

 

Martin ignored his headache and waited, there was a whole lot of chaos going on outside, he could feel it through the slightly open door. He felt Vogel's happiness and freedom and laughed at the feeling of absolute joy as Vogel sensed him right back. His brother was on his way, Martin knew that and watched the door for him. When he felt Gripps and Cross cautious but free he whooped with happiness. The sound brought something else to the door, something that smelled great, like open air and sunshine. The door opened to show a boy a little older than Vogel.  
Martin's heart fell, more children, this place was too much. He saw the boy look him over taking Martin's appearance, in the restraints, the lines painted on the floor. There was fear there but not of Martin.  
"Hello, my name is Dirk Gently and I'm going to be... no I AM a detective." The kid said with an English accent. This was probably the kid Vogel had mentioned.  
Dirk extended his hand, remembered the restraints and lowered it and then he gave Martin a bright smile.  
"Nice to meet you Dirk, I'm Martin." he replied.  
"Why are you tied to the wall? They do things like that here, I know that. You're wearing a jumpsuit. What do they think you are?" the boy asked quickly.  
"They call us Vampires." Martin responded. Dirk didn't step back as Martin expected but moved forward all bright eyed curiosity.  
"Do you drink blood? can I see your fangs?" Dirk paused and asked seriously "Can you become a bat and what kind of bat, is it the Mediterranean horseshoe bat?"  
"We don't drink blood or any of that, we eat neurological energy." Martin explained.  
"But they think you're a monster? I'm a monster too." the boy said quietly.  
Martin looked over the ray of sunlight in front of him, more fear, fear of himself then. "You're not a monster, we can smell monsters."  
Dirk frowned and reached for his binder. He held it up to show Martin as he flicked through the pages. Mr Priest told me I've killed these people, there are forty six of them. They all died because they were near me."  
"I doubt that." Martin said softly.  
"Before, before they tried to make me into a superhero I found bodies. I thought I had to solve the crime but the said I didn't and now I just don't know. Mr Priest is right I've hurt so many people." Dirk babbled, and edge of panic in his tone.  
Martin could feel the Dirk's despair, deep and rich and black. He cleared his throat and got ready to tell the one story they hadn't told Vogel yet.  
"You wanna know how Black Wing brought me in?" Martin barked.  
Dirk looked up at him, "Yes? is this going to be like Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula?"  
Martin chuckled darkly. "No, but it ain’t nice. You want to hear it?"  
Dirk thought for a moment and nodded. Martin nodded back.  
"It's hard being like us when you get older. You can't have a normal life because of the pull. The universe, creation, whatever you call it it keeps you moving. Always trying to shift you where it wants you to be, can't settle. I was spending some time in a place, medium town not too bad and nothing was pulling me anywhere.  
I'd go out at night looking for trouble. We can feed of any strong emotions but it can hurt people so I'd leach off bad guys, low lives and I could smell what they'd done and what they wanted to do so I took that risk of hurting them. All that anger and aggression and hate, I just ate it all up.  
I was young and felt like I was cleaning up the streets and I wanted to do good because there was something important missing in me and I didn't know what."  
"What was missing?" Dirk interrupted  
"My three Rowdy boys." Martin said softly. "I'm thinking you've already met Vogel?"  
Dirk looked at Martin with narrowed eyes. "He is not a very polite young man!"  
Martin smiled fondly, "That's him."  
Dirk huffed, "So how did Black Wing capture you? Was it daring?"  
"I was there for a few months, thinking of moving on, crime was down and pickings were getting slim." Martin continued. "Then something else started hunting...but it wasn't hurting the bad things."  
Martin's met Dirk's wide eyed stare.  
"They found the first of the bodies in that little town in May, more after that. Someone had taken their blood. Papers called him a vampire. I didn't realize they were bait, that the monster I was hunting was hunting me." Martin took a breath to steady himself. "There was so much bad in the air over that town, so much evil that I didn't smell it. Fourteen normal people, young and homeless to catch one of us freaks is nothing to them. That's how Black Wing does math."  
Dirk looked horrified and backed away shaking his head.  
"I can't prove it." Martin continued bitterly. "Wouldn't matter if I could. I know it was him, I can smell it every time he's around. He carved up those people to draw me out. It was Priest, he is one Wrong Thing. But you kid, we can feel bad and there's non in you."  
"Is there bad in you?" Dirk asked quietly.  
Martin thought about it. "An awful lot of chaos, not sure about the bad." he replied.  
Dirks eyes searched his and the boy leaned forward and pressed a button releasing the restraints with a pop and then he turned and walked away.

 

In the control room alarms blared, lights flashed and people panicked.  
"We need the subjects contained, how many are out?" Riggins screamed.  
"We don't know, Project Incubus's rampage knocked out a lot of the cameras, and the longer they're out of their cell the more we lose!" a nameless assistant reported.  
"Can we get eyes in the corridors?" another assistant asked.  
"We can't get anyone out there with Marzanna wandering loose." A black clad guard screamed.  
"Is Icarus contained?!" Riggins looked at one of the monitors, one of the few remaining cameras showed the shape of the sleeping Icarus. If Dirk got loose and met Marzanna? he shuddered, no. He was contained.  
"We have a level three convergence." A scientist reported staring at the data on the screen infront of him.  
"There's a fire in sector one" another voice shouted  
"We've lost contact with the teams in sectors six and seven!"  
Riggins took a breath, a strategy, they needed a strategy to get this under control. He felt the cold drop hit his hand and looked down, water, another drop and another until the rain was pouring down in the command room.  
Riggins gasped for air "Is this Project Poseidon or another one?"  
"No idea sir, we don't have eyes on his pool."  
The sound of otherworldly music filtered through the walls, sweet and beautiful and beckoning.  
Rigging groaned, Project Siren. This was not going to be good.  
"Convergence now at level two sir" said a dazed voice.  
A guard had a palm pressed flat against the wall where the music was loudest, he hummed with the music and swayed. Riggins moved, swiping a tranquilizer gun and shot the guard. He pulled out his radio "Priest come in..."  
"This is Priest."  
"Icarus is contained, containing Marzana is the priority, we'll have to recover the rest..."  
"Should be fun." Priest responded.  
"Damn it, take this seriously Priest. I want Bart contained."  
Priest looked down at the fairy tale book in his hand and the sparkly princess dress draped over his arm and smiled, take it seriously? Why couldn't everyone else see that the whole situation was ridiculous.


End file.
